Yellowstone National Park | |||||||||||||||||
| Welcome to Yellowstone National Park! You will learn anything you want to know from this site. | |||||||||||||||||
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Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful, picturesque retreat from the rest of the world. Its mountains and valleys hide the true tranquility of its flora and fauna. Yellowstone is an ideal place for vacations, retreats, nature walks. This site will be a collaboration of works of my own and other people. I plan to display a majority of the information I learn from my research. History of Yellowstone National Park: By Act of Congress on May 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park was "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "for the preservation, from injury or spoilation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders.... and their retention in their natural condition." Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world. "Yellowstone" most likely comes from the Sioux Indians, who coined the word "Mitse-a-da-zi" fro the yellowish bluffs along the river mouth. Candadian French trappers (fur) translated the Indians' term into "Rive des Roche Jaune". The commanding features that initially attracted interest, and led to the preservation of Yellowstone as a national park, were geological the geothermal phenomena (there are more geysers and hot springs here than in the rest of the world combined), the colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, fossil forests, and the size and elevation Yellowstone Lake. The human history of the park is evidenced by cultural sites dating back 12,000 years. More recent history can be seen in the historic structures and sites that represent the various periods of park administration and visitor facilities development. Ninety-nine percent of the park's 3,400 square miles (2.2 million acres) remains undeveloped, providing a wide range of habitat types that support one of the continent's largest and most varied large mammal populations. Yellowstone is a true wilderness, one of the few large, natural areas remaining in the lower 48 states of the United States. Here, you meet nature on its terms, not yours. Park regulation exist for your safety and for the protection of natural resources. | ||||||||||||||||
| Climate of Yellowstone National Park | |||||||||||||||||
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The Climate of Yellowstone National Park Climate in Yellowstone National Park ranges from cold and moist in the mountainious areas to temperate and semiarid in the plains areas. Anual temperature extremes range from less than 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero during the winter to greater than 100 degrees during the summer. Mean annual temperatures range from 32 degrees at Cook City, Montana to 48 degrees at Billings, Montana. Mean annual precipitation ranges from more than sixty inches in the mountains near the Yellowstone National Park to less than six inches in the Clarks Fork Yellowstone River Valley. Mean annual snowfall ranges from more than 130 inches in Yellowstone National Park to about 16 inches in northeast Montana. The rainfall occuring in Yellowstone is directly associated with the temperate conditions of this park. The extremes of course are quite "extreme" (for lack of a better word), but under normal conditions the temperatures are quite moderate. Climate: In the fall, temperatures in Yelllowstone average 10 to 20 degrees lower than in the summer, with highs in the 40s and 60s. At night temperatures may drop into the teens and single digits. As the weekes go by in the fall, snowstorms become more frequent and bring increasingly heavier snowfall. Winter weather in Yellowstone features cold temperatures during the day(usually in the single digits to 20s) and overnight. Snowfall is also heavy during the winter, most parts of the park average about 150 inches each year, and the upper eleveations may receive more than 200 inches per year. The snow and cold temperatures often last into the spring months, but temperatures begin to rise again in April and May. Snowstorms may still occur in May and June. In the summer, temperatures normally fall between 70 to 80 degrees, depending on elevation. June is often cool and rainy; July and August are typically warmer, drier months. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in the summer. | ||||||||||||||||
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Weathering and Erosion Wind and Water are important sources for the power of weathering and erosion. In fact, yellowstone is forming a grand cayon of its own from the explosive power of the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River is carving a canyon in the northeast corner of the park | ||||||||||||||||
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